Sarah Stonbely

Sarah Stonbely (Ph.D., New York University, 2015) is a researcher who focuses on the journalism field, civic media, local news ecosystems, and media policy. Most recently, she served as the director of the State of Local News Project at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. There, she managed the effort to map and assess the state of local journalism across the country for the 2023 report. Prior to that, Sarah served as the research director for the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, where she produced white papers and research reports on collaborative journalism, the effects on content of changing media ownership, media policy, ethnic and community media, and the structural correlates of local news provision. She also lead impact evaluation for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a first-in-the-nation public funding mechanism to support news and information initiatives in the state.